BSAC / EWMA SYMPOSIUM

Antimicrobial stewardship in wound management

Joint Symposium of BSAC and EWMA

Thursday 14th May 2015, 14:15 – 18:00

Combatting antimicrobial misuse in Wound Care

The WHO has identified the key factors contributing to general misuse of antimicrobials to be; diagnostic uncertainty, lack of skills, failure to properly utilise clinical guidelines and failure insufficient implementation of basic policies to promote rational use.

Infection is one of the most frequent complications in wound management and consequently antimicrobial agents are readily used in the treatment of wounds. Alarmingly, it is estimated that approximately 50% of antibiotic use, in both the outpatient and inpatient settings, is inappropriate. Specific for wound management is the use of topical antimicrobial agents for which misuse is believed to be as serious as the misuse of orally or intravenously administered antibiotic and EWMA is dedicated to facing the challenge.